"Blessed are those who learn to enjoy what is good in their everyday."

Sunday, November 8, 2009

Magazine Junkie

Jason & I both are prolific magazine readers. The guy at the UPS store where we get our mail always gives me a hard time about how full of magazines & catalogs our box is! I get most of mine by mail and Jason gets just as many "trade" magazines (almost all for free)~ Qualified Remodeler, Bicycling, Family Handyman, Electrical Engineering, Kitchen & Bath, Automatic Merchandising, Stone World, Remodeling, American Woodworking, Woodsmith, etc. PLUS all the trade catalogs! I am grateful for curbside recycling now as our paper bin fills so quickly!

We both pull articles and ideas out of magazines constantly! I have 4 notebooks I keep them all organized in: one is purely anything related to us building our own home one day, the second is my cookbook- recipes I've not tried yet go in the pocket for that section before actually adding to the section. Third is all things I'm into now- tabs are nutrition, exercise, craft ideas, gift ideas, decorating, organization ideas, etc. The fourth is all things related to the future of having children- pregnancy, parenting, craft ideas, food ideas for kids, discipline, activities, etc. I really enjoy looking in these notebooks and trying somethings new or being reminded of something that I agree/identify with. Along with magazine articles, I print out blog posts that I want to keep for reference. I always mark/highlight what I was interested in on a page so when I go back to look at something I know immediately what I was interested in the first place!

Here is my massive list of magazines- most are monthly, some bi-monthly, and some more seasonal (Organic Gardening). Thankfully after looking at my list I pay for very few of these magazines! Please note that I am also a chief magazine skimmer!

People wonder what I do with all my time since I don't watch tv...READ!! (and a ton of other stuff!)

Martha Stewart Living. (I actually how no idea how I get this, I never signed up for it and no body's ever said anything to me about sending it for me!)

This is one of my favorites now! I love the photography, decorating & organizational ideas and recipes. I'm not just a huge fan of Martha herself, but I like the magazine!

Martha Stewart's Body & Soul. (I get this one for free because I mailed in a $25 receipt from a UPS store~ our mail box is there and I talked the owner into giving me a few receipts that people didn't take with them!) I usually skim this one pretty quickly. I'm into eating healthy & organically so that aspect appeals to me, but I shy away from the weird new age-y stuff.

Martha Stewart's Food. (I got this one with another $25 receipt from the UPS Store.) I've yet to make anything from this one, but I've pulled a lot of pages out and put them in my "recipes to try" folder. The photography in this one is stellar too~ plus each recipe includes photos.

Traditional Home. (I get this one from my mom when she's done reading her copy.) Obviously this is one of my favorites as my blog is semi named after it! I love to decorate and Traditional Home most reflects my interior tastes. Jason likes houses with extremely tall ceilings (imagine that...he's 6'5"!) and there are usually a few pictured in each issue.

House Beautiful. (I don't actually get this one anymore, but I always flip through it on a trip to Walmart). My favorite section in House Beautiful is the paint swatch pages! Designers share their favorite color and where they use it in a home.

Better Homes & Gardens (My mom got a free subscription with each chaise lounge she bought this past year and I was the other lucky recipient!...I think I've actually renewed it since then though.) I like the gardening layouts in BHG, family friendly remodels and seasonal decorating ideas.

Veranda. (I pay for this one, probably won't renew it though.) I got this one because the homes pictured in it are breathtakingly elegant~ inside and out! I love their style!

Town & Country (came "free" with Veranda.) I casually flip through it if I feel like it, then put it in my stack of magazines to donate to my hair salon. Nothing too much peaks my interest in Town & Country. Too "high society" for me.

Organic Gardening. (got free for sending in 6 Stoneyfield yogurt lids...have since renewed it.) I renewed this one because I read it cover to cover every time even though up until recently I've not even had a yard! I want to have a beautiful yard and vegetable garden.

Family Handyman. (We first got Family Handyman b/c our friend's Tim & Danielle sent it Jason cause he was always reading it at their house...but now we pay for this one.) Ok, this one is really Jason's, but I always flip through it and sticky note ideas I want to make sure Jason sees. :)

Tulsa People. (Freebie around town) We don't watch or read the news, so this probably the closest I come to kind of knowing what's going on in our city. (Not news focused, more of the who what when and where of our city.) I usually flip through it fairly quickly and read what catches my attention. When Jason first moved to Tulsa he made it a goal to be published in Tulsa People. Eleven months later I did just that by winning one of their photo contests! He has since decided he doesn't care if he's ever published in Tulsa People Magazine. ;)

Oklahoma Magazine. (Another freebie around town.) Similar to Tulsa People, but a little more focused on the state as a whole. Sometimes there are articles about Oklahoma City, but mostly Tulsa focused. I usually flip through this one pretty casually too.

Urban Tulsa Weekly. (newspaper weekly around town) I only read this if I'm waiting somewhere and there is nothing else to read. Too liberal/edgy for my liking, however Jason was quoted once last year in it~ in an article about how Tulsa does not recycle styrofoam when there is a viable option to do so.

Tulsa Kids. (freebie around town) I've only picked this up as of late to see if I can come up with some more activities for small children ~ mainly so we aren't cooped up in the house all winter with the babies. So far, not too much listed for having 2 small children under the age of 2. Other than that I don't really care for the stance of the articles~ too liberal / pro-government minded. (I don't think that the government has the best interest of children, or an of us for that matter, in mind...raising children really needs to come back home to parents I believe. Example- recent article I read about how public schools are working on nutrition for lunches. I'm sorry, but most of the food they talked about was still full of junk~ high fructose corn syrup, preservatives, and other imitation ingredients.)

Kiwi. (Free from some organic coupon website) It's an "organic" focused kids magazine. It's so full of ads, no wonder it's free, but some cute stuff here and there. I pull out ideas and articles I'd like to keep on hand for future reference.

American Baby. (Signed up somewhere online to get this for free) I pull out ideas and articles I'd like to keep on hand for future reference.

Family Fun. (Signed up somewhere online to get this for free) one more to flip through and pull out anything that catches my fancy. I like that this one is very family oriented~ doing things together.

Mothering. (picked this up at Whole Foods. Will probably subscribe)~ I'm very pleased with the "natural" focus of things- being that they are pro mothering/parenting without always falling back on medications & drugs and commercialized everything!...more traditional! ;)

**disclaimer: yes, I know, we don't even have any kids or any on the way yet...but I've always been interested in reading about children well, cause I've never wanted a career other than being a wife and mother!

2 comments:

From time to time I purchase a magazine at the check out stand--I get one holiday magazine a year, and some specialty magazines from time to time if I am traveling and want something to read.

We subscribe to Home Power, which is solar/wind/hydro electricity info, and Organic Gardening. Last year we got Back Home, which is about sustainable living, but the one I wish they would publish more than annually is Urban Farm--awesome articles about sustainable living.

I try to only get one or two at a time, because I am not very good at reading them. I flip through them when they arrive, and then put them on Dave's desk. He actually reads quite a bit in them but unless they pertain to something I am doing right then, I tend not to. Crazy to subscribe if you don't read, but oh, well.